Grand Hotel- Page 2

[Glebb]

Posted: 2/12/05 at 7:41am

I remember Jeter and a very skinny Krakowski in it as well as Montevechi and Karen Akers. After the amazing NINE I think my expectations were just too high and I was left flat by Grand Hotel. It would be cool to see that original production again now and see what I feel.

[popcultureboy]

Posted: 2/12/05 at 8:06am

I think the piece itself is trying to pack too much story with too many characters into too brief a running time. Consequently it comes off feeling slight and melodramatic. That said, I did enjoy it when I saw it at the Donmar a few weeks back. It closes tonight, actually.

[cturtle]

Posted: 2/12/05 at 12:30pm

mirandajrs, that's exactly why i was inspired to get the OCR ... jeeter was so good in that number! ... listening to the OCR right now for the first time ... WHO COULDN'T DANCE WITH YOU is divine!

[mallardo]

Posted: 2/12/05 at 12:31pm

I saw a production of Grand Hotel recently at the Colony Theater in LA/Burbank - Jason Graae was a marvelous Kringelein - and they used a slightly cut version of the show to good effect. There were no Scullery Workers and their "Some Have, Some Have Not" was cut from the opening as was, later, Preysing's "Crooked Path" - the least effective number in the score, IMO - and Rafaella's "How Can I Tell Her", which I did miss. Grushinskaya's maudlin "Bonjour Amour" was replaced by a number from the original pre-Yeston score - which was frankly not much better. All in all though the cuts worked and the show - played without intermission - was terrific. Smaller companies should definitely check out this version.

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 2/12/05 at 1:34pm

mallardo, that cutting sounds awful though. One of the best things about GH is how is juxtaposes the classes and this time leading up to Nazi Germany. The Sculls aid to all this.

Pop--I'm sad you thought there were too many characters. I wonder if the direction didn't provide the proper focus? There are way less characters in GH than in Les Miz or Ragtime. But it is tricky having many characters in a show--not knowing which characters figure prominently in the story and which are providing atmosphere and context.

[mallardo]

Posted: 2/12/05 at 3:50pm

jrb_actor, I take your point but the Scullery Workers music is not inspired stuff and it's really just a nod to class consciousness, not a real theme of the show - unless you see the snub of Kringelein as more than anti-semitism. I believe the cuts were made in part to reduce cast and, therefore, cost, but as I said, the show worked this way, at least for me.

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 2/12/05 at 4:00pm

I highly disagree--it is a major theme in the show. Look at all of the relationships and see it. Their song is essential to the atmosphere of the show and this theme. And the end of the musical, their song is song roughly in German. It's incredible.

I know--I've done the show twice! :)

[mallardo]

Posted: 2/12/05 at 4:12pm

JRB, I think we're going to have to agree to disagree. There's snobbishness aplenty but not a whole lot of class-consciousness in the Marxian sense. The proletariat is represented only by the Scullery Workers and perhaps Flaemmchen and the singing waiters who have racial issues but do not appear to be class conscious in a political way. Most of the characters are middle class with the exception of the Baron who is the most socially enlightened person in the piece.

Re the German lyrics by the Scullery Workers near the end, I've never quite understood that, unless it's homage to Brecht/Weill in some way. Or is it that speaking the demotic - German - supposedly separates the workers further from their bosses?

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 2/13/05 at 12:38am

Let's just agree to disagree--I clearly see the show one way and you clearly see it another way. :)

[WISHIHADATONY]

Posted: 2/14/05 at 12:56pm

I saw the national tour with Tony Franciosa and Lillene Montivecchi (sp?)............my friends and I took turns keeping each other awake.........

GRAND HOTEL the musical was an excellent alternative to prescription sleepaids.

The performance of We'll Raise A Glass Together by Michael Jeter on the Tonys is probably one of the three best Tony award performances ever..........We watch that scene often, it and he are thrilling.....

But the show was endless and boring.

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 2/14/05 at 1:00pm

I would argue that perhaps that PRODUCTION was boring. But the musical itself worked quite well in the 1999 productions I did.

Updated On: 2/14/05 at 01:00 PM

[eslgr8]

Posted: 2/15/05 at 3:01am

The recent Colony production was amazing and got pretty much unanimous raves. I'm not familiar with the original, other than the cast recording, but the reinvisioning of the show by its most talented director was extremely effective. It was quite a hit!

[cturtle]

Posted: 2/15/05 at 5:01am

interesting to note that GRAND HOTEL is listed in the book BROADWAY MUSICALS: THE 101 GREATEST SHOWS OF ALL TIME, which we just got for valentines day :)

Posted: 2/15/05 at 5:04am

eslgr8 - the fact that Jason Graae was one of the leads didn't hurt